The Best LGBT Biographies & Memoirs 2025

1. Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain, Pre-Owned (Paperback)

Pre-Owned - In this searing, unflinchingly honest New York Times bestseller, actress Portia de Rossi shares the truth of her long battle to overcome anorexia and bulimia while living in the public eye, and details the new happiness and health she has found in recent years--including her coming out and her marriage to Ellen DeGeneres. Now in paperback, the New York Times bestselling memoir from Portia de Rossi explores the truth of her long battle to overcome anorexia and bulimia--an unusually fresh and engrossing memoir of both Hollywood and modern womanhood ( Los Angeles Times, 5 stars). In this groundbreaking memoir, Portia de Rossi reveals the pain and illness that haunted her for decades, from the time she was a twelve-year-old girl working as a model in Australia, through her early rise to fame as a cast member of the hit television show Ally McBeal. All the while terrified that the truth of her sexuality would be exposed in the tabloids, Portia alternately starved herself and binged, putting her life in danger and concealing from herself and everyone around her the seriousness of her illness. She describes the elaborate rituals around food that came to dominate hours of every day and explores the pivotal moments of her childhood that set her on the road to illness. She reveals the heartache and fear that accompany a life lived in the closet, a sense of isolation that was only magnified by her unrelenting desire to be ever thinner, ever more in control of her body and the number of calories she consumed and spent. From her lowest point, Portia began the painful climb back to a life of health and honesty, falling in love and marrying Ellen DeGeneres and emerging as an outspoken and articulate advocate for gay rights and women's health issues. In this remarkable and landmark book, she has given the world a story that inspires hope and nourishes the spirit.

Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain, Pre-Owned (Paperback)

2. Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain, Pre-Owned (Hardcover)

Pre-Owned -

Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain, Pre-Owned (Hardcover)

3. Hollywood Lesbians, Used [Hardcover]

Interviews Sandy Dennis, Barbara Stanwyck, Marjorie Main, Nancy Kulp, Patsy Kelly, Agnes Moorehead, Edith Head, Judith Anderson, and others about life as a lesbian in the film industry during the so-called Golden Age of Hollywood.

Hollywood Lesbians, Used [Hardcover]

4. Uncomfortable Labels : My Life As a Gay Autistic Trans Woman, Used [Paperback]

"So while the assumption when I was born was that I was or would grow up to be a neurotypical heterosexual boy, that whole idea didn't really pan out long term." In this candid, first-of-its-kind memoir, Laura Kate Dale recounts what life is like growing up as a gay trans woman on the autism spectrum. From struggling with sensory processing, managing socially demanding situations and learning social cues and feminine presentation, through to coming out as trans during an autistic meltdown, Laura draws on her personal experiences from life prior to transition and diagnosis, and moving on to the years of self-discovery, to give a unique insight into the nuances of sexuality, gender and autism, and how they intersect. Charting the ups and downs of being autistic and on the LGBT spectrum with searing honesty and humour, this is an empowering, life-affirming read for anyone who's felt they don't fit in.

Uncomfortable Labels : My Life As a Gay Autistic Trans Woman, Used [Paperback]

5. Don't Get Me Started, Used [Paperback]

Let's get one thing straight. I'm not. I'm out and proud. When I'm out and it's raining I carry an umbrella. I used to be in but I hate the smell of mothballs. My closet was huge, complete with a foyer, turnstile, a few dead bolts, and a burglar alarm that had to be deactivated before I could even touch the door handle. And then there was the storm door. It wasn't until I had lived and slept with a woman for a year that it occurred to me to ask, "Do you think we're lesbians?" By the way, never come out to your father in a moving vehicle. Now I've written a book. It's not as easy as it looks. One night, I was working late on my computer when a little message came up on the screen, "You are almost out of memory." Here are my thoughts and observations on everything from gay marriage (Mad Vow Disease) to my morbid fear of mascots (with the exception of the San Diego Chicken). That's all I'm going to say because I don't want to spoil it for you. That's a job for Jesse Helms.

Don't Get Me Started, Used [Paperback]

6. Born This Way: Real Stories of Growing Up Gay [Hardcover - Used]

CONDITION - USED - Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "From the library of" labels or previous owner inscriptions. Accessories such as CD, codes, toys, may not be included. Based on the hugely popular blog of the same name, Born This Way shares 100 different memories of growing up LGBTQ. Childhood photographs are accompanied by sweet, funny, and at times heartbreaking personal stories. Collected from around the world and dating from the 1940s to today, these memories speak to the hardships of an unaccepting world and the triumph of pride, self-love, and self-acceptance. This intimate little book is a wonderful gift for all members of the LGBTQ community as well as their friends and families. Like Dan Savage's It Gets Better Project, Born This Way gives young people everywhere the courage to say, "Yes, I'm gay. And I was born this way. I've known it since I was very young, and this is my story."

Born This Way : Real Stories of Growing up Gay, Used [Hardcover]

7. When We Rise: My Life in the Movement, Used [Hardcover]

2017 LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD WINNER The partial inspiration for the ABC television mini-series "You could read Cleve Jones's book because you should know about the struggle for gay, lesbian, and transgender rights from one of its key participants--maybe heroes--but really, you should read it for pleasure and joy."--Rebecca Solnit, author of Men Explain Things to Me Born in 1954, Cleve Jones was among the last generation of gay Americans who grew up wondering if there were others out there like himself. There were. Like thousands of other young people, Jones, nearly penniless, was drawn in the early 1970s to San Francisco, a city electrified by progressive politics and sexual freedom. Jones found community--in the hotel rooms and ramshackle apartments shared by other young adventurers, in the city's bathhouses and gay bars like The Stud, and in the burgeoning gay district, the Castro, where a New York transplant named Harvey Milk set up a camera shop, began shouting through his bullhorn, and soon became the nation's most outspoken gay elected official. With Milk's encouragement, Jones dove into politics and found his calling in "the movement." When Milk was killed by an assassin's bullet in 1978, Jones took up his mentor's progressive mantle--only to see the arrival of AIDS transform his life once again. By turns tender and uproarious, When We Rise is Jones' account of his remarkable life. He chronicles the heartbreak of losing countless friends to AIDS, which very nearly killed him, too; his co-founding of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation during the terrifying early years of the epidemic; his conception of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, the largest community art project in history; the bewitching story of 1970s San Francisco and the magnetic spell it cast for thousands of young gay people and other misfits; and the harrowing, sexy, and sometimes hilarious stories of Cleve's passionate relationships with friends and lovers during an era defined by both unprecedented freedom and and violence alike. When We Rise is not only the story of a hero to the LQBTQ community, but the vibrantly voice memoir of a full and transformative American life.

When We Rise : My Life in the Movement, Used [Hardcover]

8. Karamo: My Story of Embracing Purpose, Healing, and Hope [Hardcover - Used]

CONDITION - USED - Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "From the library of" labels or previous owner inscriptions. Accessories such as CD, codes, toys, may not be included. An insightful, candid, and inspiring memoir from Karamo Brown-- Queer Eye 's beloved culture expert--as he shares his story for the first time, exploring how the challenges in his own life have allowed him to forever transform the lives of those in need. When Karamo Brown first auditioned for the casting directors of Netflix's Queer Eye , he knew he wouldn't win the role of culture expert by discussing art and theater. Instead he decided to redefine what "culture" could--and should --mean for the show. He took a risk and declared, "I am culture." Karamo believes that culture is so much more than art museums and the ballet--it's how people feel about themselves and others, how they relate to the world around them, and how their shared labels, burdens, and experiences affect their daily lives in ways both subtle and profound. Seen through this lens, Karamo is culture: his family is Jamaican and Cuban; he was raised in the South in predominantly white neighborhoods and attended an HBCU (Historically Black College/University); he was trained as a social worker and psychotherapist; he overcame personal issues of colorism, physical and emotional abuse, alcohol and drug addiction, and public infamy; he is a proud and dedicated gay single father of two boys, one biological and one adopted. It is by discussing deep subjects like these, he feels, that the makeovers on the show can attain their full, lasting meaning. Styling your hair and getting new clothes and furniture are important, but it's imperative that you figure out why you haven't done so in twenty years so you can truly change your life. In this eye-opening and moving memoir, Karamo reflects on his lifelong education. It comprises every adversity he has overcome, as well as the lessons he has learned along the way. It is only by exploring our difficulties and having the hard conversations--with ourselves and one another--that we are able to adjust our mind-sets, heal emotionally, and move forward to live our best lives. Karamo shows us the way.

Karamo : My Story of Embracing Purpose, Healing, and Hope, Used [Hardcover]

9. Queer 13: Lesbian And Gay Writers Recall Seventh Grade [Paperback - Used]

CONDITION - USED - Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "From the library of" labels or previous owner inscriptions. Accessories such as CD, codes, toys, may not be included. Forward by Dale Peck Seventh grade: You remember it, don't you? Sweet sixteen seemed impossibly far away, an elegant, unattainable future. All that we had was the doldrums of thirteen -- not so sweet, and definitely queer. Now, some of the finest observers of the gay experience take us back to the homerooms and hallways of our youth, in a collection of original essays that captures that time of adolescence when social and sexual development was at its raging worst. From gym class to kissing parties, obsessive crushes to after-school pummelings, every day held the possibility of discovery -- and complete humiliation. For those of us who are gay, our sexuality added another twist, that extra little way we didn't quite fit in. It was a time of becoming who we truly are, a passage into adulthood that was as memorable as it was agonizing. Queer 13 tells these tales of teenage trauma -- from funny to painful, reflective to literary -- all ringing with the universal truths of a poignant, extraordinary time.

Queer 13: Lesbian And Gay Writers Recall Seventh Grade [Paperback - Used]

10. Outstanding Lives: Profiles of Lesbians and Gay Men [Hardcover - Used]

CONDITION - USED - Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "From the library of" labels or previous owner inscriptions. Accessories such as CD, codes, toys, may not be included. Outstanding Lives is a book of photographic portraits and short essays about 70 contemporary gay men and lesbians. Ranging from political figures such as Roberta Achtenberg, the first openly gay person to be nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate (she was Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity) to Rudolf Nureyev, one of the world's greatest ballet dancers, the people highlighted in this book attest to the tremendous variety of contributions gay and lesbian people are making to the world today. This will be a fun resource or coffee- table book either for people who need to be introduced to gay and lesbian culture or for the queer household that wants to wander through a scrapbook of "the family."

Outstanding Lives: Profiles of Lesbians and Gay Men [Hardcover - Used]